Los Angeles bursts with fall colors and velvety lawns, but drought persists

Winter is officially just around the corner, and our surprisingly windy, rainy fall has left the Los Angeles region with bright green lawns and colorful autumn trees as the region struggles to recover from a long drought.

According to Almanac.com’s upbeat rain forecast, winter will be warmer and wetter than normal and the stormiest periods will be in mid- to late December, early and late January, early and late February, and late March.

It’s a beautiful fall thanks to heavy rains that fed the thirsty trees in Los Angeles, but we’re actually in a drought, Los Angeles area experts agree.

In fact, the Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors declared a regional drought emergency this week, citing reservoirs at “about half of where they are normally at this time of year.”

And L.A.’s water spigot, the Colorado River, faces a tough year ahead due to the overall dry weather. The Metropolitan Water District imports about half of the water to Southern California from the Colorado River and from the northern Sierra Mountains via the State Water Project.

So what to do, as Los Angeles bids goodbye to the wet fall and heads into a possibly dry winter?

Officials say Angelenos are doing a good job of sticking to restrictions on outdoor watering, and they should stick with it. The DWP bill the city sends to L.A. households contains a colorful page reminding residents which two days each week they can water.